What were we expected to do with a blue bag of plastic water bottles we meticulously gathered during our cross-country drive? Or with our color-coded cardboard boxes, already broken down and tied into respective, neat stacks?

I was stumped.

Law makes it hard to act responsibly

As the fifth-largest city in the United States, Phoenix is booming with new apartment complexes. Yet a city ordinance prohibits municipal recycling at apartment complexes, while some neighboring cities do not even pick up recycling from apartments at all.

A 2015 Arizona law actually outright bans any requirement for Valley cities to offer service at multifamily residences. This leaves some Arizonans having to figure out routes to an ecostation or paying for a recycling subscription.

This presents the danger of “microplastics.” As the sun breaks down biodegradable plastics into pieces as small as 5 millimeters. Scientists are studying the severe impact this has on freshwater and marine ecosystems, and are still learning how this could be affecting humans.

Arizona can do better

Recycling is a simple thing to do, but habits must be practiced in order to become routine. If state leadership is making the process more tedious for multifamily communities and business complexes, how can a culture focused on sustainability develop?

Whether or not the law was enacted to benefit private waste companies by limiting competition, the bottom line is that Arizona can do better.

In a desert, an environment that would seemingly emphasize the importance of sustainability, cities should put better systems in place.